I found myself at the gym slightly later than usual on Friday morning. I had a day off for a wedding later on, and thought I’d get an exercise unit in before I hit the wedding vino. I didn’t feel much like running but I’d missed the early spinning class so – with the spinning studio to myself – I decided to DIY it.
Good fun it was too – I plugged myself into my iPod, found some tracks with varying tempos and off I went. One of the instructors came in after about ten minutes and insisted on putting on the demo track and virtual reality graphics, which was just a bit distracting. I don’t need to pretend I’m cycling through the streets of London when I’m patently not even outside, and the soundtrack sticks roughly to the same tempo, whether it’s Walk Like An Egyptian or Acceptable In The 80s. I turned up my iPod and carried on in my own little world. My back didn’t feel too bad – certainly not as stiff as it did after running and British Military Fitness earlier on in the week. After 45 minutes, I was pretty much spent and just did a few upper body weights before heading to the sauna and spa.
The gym demographic changes as you go through the day – the frantic pre-work crowd has disappeared by 9am, to be replaced by the blue rinse brigade. Watching them cavort around in the pool to aqua aerobics while I sweated some more in the sauna wasa sight to behold. I think there was only one person under 60 in the entire pool.
Filed under: 5k, British Military Fitness, Pulse8, X-bike, food, gym, spinning | Tags: anna friel, british rmilitary fitness, gym, jonathan ross, running, sauna, spa, spinning
As I said to a few people at work today, I’m really trying to like the snow, but I can’t get away from the fact that it’s just so flipping cold. I can cope with this when I’m wrapped up all warm on a ski slope, clutching a mug of hot chocolate and tanning my panda-eyed face in the mountain sun – but it’s just annoying when you’re trying to get on with your normal day-to-day life, it’s chucking down half-snow-half-rain, it’s not quite bad enough to shut the office or cancel meetings, so you carry on, your feet are soaked, people are still driving up your backside even though they’re skidding all over the shop and the underground is closed. Why is that? I mean, it is – by definition – beneath the snow line.
This week has been a bit crap exercise-wise. Monday brought chaos to the roads and I needed to see the doctor first thing for another whopping dose of antibiotics. Tuesday wasn’t much better. I managed a spinning class on Wednesday, was in London all day Thursday and got up this morning – intending to go to the gym – but then I looked out of the window, decided I didn’t fancy de-snowing the car at 6am…and I went back to bed for an hour and a half.
I decided enough was enough this evening, and headed to the gym on the way home from work instead. I’ve never done this before. I have a fabulous pre-9am membership at Pulse8 which costs just £22 per month. I go before work for a spinning class, or circuits or a run – and it works well for me. My visit in the evening was most confusing – the place looked more or less the same, but all the people were different. And there were considerably more of them.
Anyway, did the 5k challenge = 26:55.
Then some upper body weights – Red Bucket tells me he’s doing some work on his arms before our ski trip. My arms are weak.
Then about 20 minutes on one of the X-bikes – did a random routine in time to whatever appeared on my iPod. That worked quite well.
Finally, I loafed in the sauna and spa pool for a while.
I have to say, it was rather nice to not have to rush around and get to work afterwards. I’m home now, feeling all tingly after my workout and full after my omelette and several handfuls of chocolate chips (had to raid the baking cupboard for those as I’m all out of Lindt balls).
I’ve got one eye on Jonathan Ross and Anna Friel drinking some foul-smelling green juice. Presumably she lives on that in order to stay so skinny. And I’m trying to decide whether to brave British Military Fitness in the morning, or be a wuss and go to the gym…
Filed under: Pulse8, gym, running | Tags: gym, Pulse8, running, treadmill
Missed British Military Fitness yesterday as I was feeling a bit under the weather, but felt sufficiently better to go back to the gym today. Ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill, but didn’t get an accurate distance because I paused it part-way through to talk to an instructor (“oooh” she said “are you back into the swing of things?” – code for “haven’t seen you for a while”). Can’t imagine it was more than a standard 7.5km – averaging out at 10km or 6 miles per hour – but after Sunday I was just glad to be still standing at the end of it. No further tantrums either.
Treadmill gets bad press among runners, but I quite like it sometimes for the following reasons:
- It’s warm in the gym.
- And dry.
- The people-watching possibilities are almost endless. Spotted this morning: super-fit young lady running at 17.9km/hour – I thought she was going to go pinging off the back and across the gym; man on exercise bike wearing combats, cap, hoodie (with hood up) cycling with his arms folded; man singing to himself on the treadmill; man jabbering away on his mobile while half-heartedly lifting dumbells with the other hand.
- I stretch properly afterwards.
- The showers are lovely.
- I always gym it in the morning, and am way more productive at work that day.
Occasionally I forget to take my trousers, which is rather inconvenient, but all in all it’s a good start to the day. Off to spinning tomorrow…
Filed under: Commando Challenge, Pulse8, gym, running | Tags: Commando Challenge, gym, healthy eating, running
My positive thinking at the beginning of the week resulted in a 5-mile/50min run on Tuesday morning, my first day back at work for two and a half weeks. And – erm – that’s it.
On Tuesday I got home a smidgen before midnight after client drinks in Londonium and went to bed without having any dinner.
Wednesday afternoon I was back on the train for a client meeting in Waterloo, followed by birthday drinks with a very old (as in long-standing, rather than ancient) friend. I was fairly restrained and left at 9.15, but it still tool me over two hours to get home again.
Thursday saw me in Newbury first thing, then back onto First Crap Western for another client event in the Capital, from which I was unable to escape until 2.30am this morning.
I’m not a very nice person without at least seven hours’ sleep per night, so I’m suffering. There’s also half a stone of Italian cheese nestling around my bottom that needs shifting, and of course I haven’t eaten properly all week.
So the Nottingham Half is an impossible quest, and I’m pulling out of an event for the first time without a proper illness/injury excuse. I’ve still got a press release to sort out before I leave the office tonight, then it’s home for a nice wholesome home-cooked meal featuring lots of vegetables before bath and bed, then to the gym in the morning. I shall repeat that process twice before I return to work on Monday.
There’s no way I’m going to be allowed to duck out of Commando Challenge on 12 October. The t-shirts are being designed, our sponsorship page goes live next week and certain members of the team are inordinately excited about our adventure in the West Country. Onwards and forwards…
Filed under: 10k, Nike Human Race, Pulse8, gym, running | Tags: 10k, gym, Nike Human Race, Pulse8, running
Congratulations to the GB team for bringing home 19 gold medals out of a total of 47. What a fantastic boost to the 2012 team, and a thorough “up yours” to all of the people moaning about how much money the Games will cost us. Isn’t it all worth it? I’m not a big sport spectator, but I’ve really enjoyed watching the achievements of the GB team alongside the other faces of 2008 – notably Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. Let’s hope our disabled athletes share similar success as they complete their final preparations before the Paralympics start on 6 September. I hope the BBC gives them the coverage they too deserve.
My own training has muddled along during the course of August – though it’s been hard to get in my three/four weekday sessions over the last couple of weeks because of work commitments (on holiday now for two weeks, whoop whoop!)
But I haven’t done toooo badly. Here’s the rundown:
- Sunday, 3 August – Run around Hampstead Heath (45 mins/4.4 miles)
- Tuesday, 5 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (10 mins/1.82km)
- Wednesday, 6 August – Spinning (on X-bikes with virtual reality screen. Liable to cause motion sickness)
- Thursday, 7 August – Treadmill run (45 mins/7.77km)
- Sunday, 10 August – Bike ride with Dad and chums (32 miles)
- Tuesday, 12 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (15 mins/2.82km)
- Wednesday, 13 August – Spinning
- Saturday, 16 August – Run around Twyford/Dinton Pastures (60 mins/5.57 miles)
- Tuesday, 19 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (15 mins/2.63km)
- Thursday, 21 August – Treadmill run (35 mins/6.23km)
Also managed to get in a couple of good walks in the Brecon Beacons this weekend. I could feel my glutes starting to gripe a bit by the end of day two anyway.
Five days until the next event: the Nike Human Race, a 10k starting at Wembley Stadium. Unusually it’s an evening run, with music from Moby and others before we set off. This is what I’ll be wearing…alongside thousands of other runners.
Lemming top
I won’t be going for gold of course. Happy just to jog along with the crowds. First though, I’m off to Runners World in Rayners Lane to get a pair of shoes that fit. My feet hate me at the moment, as I keep forcing them into a pair of Asics that have never been quite right.
Filed under: Pulse8, X-bike, gym, running, spinning | Tags: gym, Pulse8, running, spinning
It’s become apparent that there is a hardcore group of gym bunnies at my gym – Pulse8 - who turn up every single morning without fail. I thought I’d try to emulate this myself and resolved to go every morning for a week. It didn’t start well: I was a tiny bit hungover on Monday after the post-Bupa Great Capital Run celebrations, knew I had to write a proposal when I got to work, so switched the 6am alarm off and stayed in bed for another hour and a half.
However, I did make it the rest of the week:
Tuesday - half-hour circuits class with Miki, (Pulse8’s resident motherly figure, a 67-year-old former triathlete who puts us all to shame with boundless energy). Then 20-minute run on the treadmill, experimenting with songs with varying beats per minute (more about that some other time). 3.57km.
Wednesday - spinning with Richard “pull those abs in tight”. Exciting because the 35 new X-bikes have been moved to the other end of the studio onto a tiered platform arrangement so that everyone can see the instructor on the stage at the end. They’ve got some nice floor lights and bought some new speakers as well, I think, as the music seemed to be louder. After spinning, did some abs and lots of stretching.
Thursday - gym again for 30-min run on treadmill with more new music. 5.27km. Some random exercises on the Swiss ball, in a vague attempt to improve core stability.
Friday - spinning again, with an Aussie called Luke I think, who I’ve never seen before. Lowlight of the class: a Fleetwood Mac number.
I have to say it’s actually easier to get up every day at the same time than it is to get up at 6am one morning, and 7.30 the next because my body seems to cope with a regular wake-up call better than a randomly timed one. I’ve slept consistently well every night – though that’s partly to do with some very long days at work and not going to bed early enough – and felt more productive during the day. So maybe there’s something in this early bird business…
I also remain quite impressed with the facilities at Pulse8. There’s clearly investment going into the equipment, but my pre-9am fee is just £23 a month. There’s quite a lot of griping among the regulars about some of the instructors, but I think they’re all pretty sound. You get some that are better than others, but that’s the case wherever you go. I just need them to change the radio station in the changing rooms from the inane 2TENfm to Radio 4, and get them to install a few more plugs for hair straighteners, and I’ll be an even happier gym bunny myself.
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, Pulse8, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, cycling, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning | Tags: cycling, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, nike+s sportband, running, spinning
It’s been a week since my last blog. Contrary to probable assumptions, I have done some exercise; just been too busy at work to write about it.
After my spinning class last Saturday, I headed out with some friends to the Reading Beer Festival. Only we didn’t quite make it, due to excessive queues, so ended up in a very pleasant beer garden drinking shandies in the sunshine instead. I ended up at E&D’s, who introduced me to Wii Fit. For the uninitiated (moi included) it’s a modern and rather more sophisticated take on the 80s aerobics video, to encourage people do a workout in their own home. You have to do various exercises on the Balance Board, which also measures your weight, BMI and…weirdly…your age. Aside from the fact that my BMI was right at the top end of normal, veering dangerously towards overweight, it established my age at 45. I was less than impressed, given that I am really only just about nudging 31. I was even less amused when it classified me as “unbalanced” – not just once – but three times after slalom skiing, ski jumping and hulahooping. Now, I had had a few of the aforementioned shandies and a couple of Long Island Iced Teas, but that is seriously unstable. Maybe that’s why I keep falling over/off things.
By Sunday – with six weeks to go until the London-Brighton – I could put off a bike ride no longer. For the first time since my little tumble, I strapped on my helmet, gingerly put my feet into the toe clips and ambled off down the cul-de-sac where I live. It was hardly rush hour; in fact, there were no cars whatsoever. Which was nice. This hurdle overcome, I took a deep breath and left the cul-de-sac to cycle off around the village, complete with speed humps, corners and an A-road full of cars. I didn’t fall off. Ha! Up yours, Wii Fit.
Tested the Nike+ Sportband on Monday. In the absence of Nike trainers with a hole in the sole, I used the cling-film-and-sellotape trick. Note to self: must get one of those little pouches, otherwise I’m absolutely bound to lose it. Anyway…the device measured my little jog along the river to Dinton Pastures and back at 4.90 miles, in 45:47 mins, during which time I burned 506 calories. I think that’s overstating it a bit to be honest, so I need to calibrate it. I assume these things are set to some kind of average stride length and – as I have little legs – it’s going to think I’ve gone further than I actually have. Anyway, I like it: it’ll give me some kind of idea of the mileage I’m doing during training without forking out for a Garmin, the calorie counter is a nice touch, and I could set myself a few targets online – though after the Wii Fit experience, I’m not sure I enjoy being berated by a computer.
Didn’t make it back to the gym until Friday morning, when I did another spinning class on the X-bikes. I’m getting to grips with the rock-and-roll handlebars, and can pump along in time with the best of them when I’m standing up. Co-ordinating my arms while sitting down is harder. Maybe that’s why I was never any good at the piano at school either.
Filed under: Pulse8, X-bike, gym, spinning | Tags: gym, Pulse8, spinning, X-bike
“We’re going to christen these bikes with our SWEAT!” yelled Shyam over Candi Staton at Pulse8 this morning. The 35 people perched on the spanking new Trixter X-bikes in front of him looked slightly nervous; he’s a nutty spinning instructor at the best of times.
The X-bikes have the same tilting handlebars as the X-dreams, but the gears are operated by a twisting action on the right-hand side of the handlebars and there is no need for a screen. Shyam showed us some of the basic moves with the handlebars…and we were off.
Just had a gentle pedal to start with – wobbling the handlebars to simulate an uneven road surface and get used to the feel of the clicky gears – which are more sensitive that a traditional spinning knob that you turn 360 degrees to get resistance.
Next track we did some seated carves – the idea is to push the handlebar down to one side as you pedal, without leaning the whole upper body. This works the arms, shoulders and core as your legs work the pedals – give much more of a full body workout than normal spinning.
Shyam soon had us up and out of the seat, climbing and rocking the handlebars at the same time. It was quite tricky to get this right – as it feels slightly unnatural to push the right handlebar down as the right knee comes up, particularly as the pedals don’t seem to turn quite so smoothly (maybe I need to increase the resistance even more to overcome the slight jerkiness). You also need to maintain a pretty good sense of rhythm in time with the music to get the full benefit. After a couple of minutes of this, I thought my lungs were going to explode.
Thankfully, there were a few seconds of respite here and there. Unlike traditional spinning bikes, you can stop pedaling and “coast” in a seated or climbing position. But you can still pump the handlebars or squat to work the arms and abs while your legs take a break.
I always have been a bit of a sweaty betty, but I’ve never ejected as much water out of my body during a 45-minute class as I did this morning. Consider my bike (second row, second from the right) well and truly christened. Can’t wait for the next class though…
